The S&P 500 leaped 2.5% Wednesday after President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire.
Oil prices are down, and stocks are up, though such moves have been quick to change since the war in Iran began.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% after a report showed U.S. employers cut more jobs last month than they created.
The Dow lost as many as 1,160 points Thursday before finishing the day with a drop of 784, or 1.6%.
Past military conflicts in the Middle East have not caused long-term drops for markets.
Chip companies helped drive the gains on hopes for more big spending by Amazon and other customers building out their AI offerings.
What’s more important will be what Fed officials say about the probability of more cuts.
A Chinese company called DeepSeek said it had developed a large language model that can compete with U.S. giants at perhaps a fraction of the cost.
Tuesday’s U.S. market rally comes as the stock market enters what’s historically been a very cheerful season.
U.S. stocks are drifting in early trading after leaping to records the day before as part of a worldwide rally.